-USA – Eaglesclaw Academy*-

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Located in Massachusetts, this school welcomes American and Canadian witches from all over North America, as well as some students of other nationalities. Modelled on Hogwarts, it is similar as the founders wished to create an experience just as good as the English school but for American witches and wizards. The current head of school is Liana May, a renowned charms professor.

Founding:

The Eaglesclaw Academy was founded by four American friends who had been students at Hogwarts and wished to create an American school to unite all witches and wizards of their nationality. It was founded just after the American Revolutionary War and opened in the autumn term of 1786. Like in Hogwarts, the four houses are named after the founders, who were  Gretchen Grizzlheart, Madora Merdock, Leopold Lammasador and Sebastien Snowbeark. The four founders do not haunt the castle but all have paintings in the common rooms of their houses and also one each in the head’s office.

The running of the school was handed over to sisters Siobham and Sophie Ketra in 1850 after Lammasador, the last to go, died a peaceful death of simple old age.

More information on the Four Founders:

Gretchen Grizzleheart:Grizzleheart believed in making the most of nature and living off the land influenced by her mother’s Native American background (Delaware Indians) the Lenape. Grizzleheart’s Father was a missionary with the first Great Awakening movement led by Jonathan Edwards. She was known as “the mother of the motherless” because she made a habit of adopting orphaned witches and wizards and eventually established an orphanage, which is now the location of Eaglesclaw. She had a pet bear named Reginald Fuzzybottom that accompanied her everywhere and who remained with her to the end of her days. Grizzleheart was particularly gifted in the arts of potions, herbology and care of magical creatures.

Leopold Lammasador: Lammasador fought alongside George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. He was gifted in battle strategy, highly intelligent and believed in careful planning as the key to success. Lammasador Spoke a total of 32 different languages (from both the wizarding and muggle world) he valued reading and studiousness above all else. He also established the first American Wizarding School classes of History of Magic and Defense against the Dark Arts and taught both subjects during his time as partial head of school.

Madora Merdock:Hailing from Spain, Madora was an avid traveler and adventurer, she traveled the world in a ship she commanded and saw most of the globe, both known and uncharted. She loved America particularly and eventually fell in love with and married the famous American wizard Connor Merdock. Connnor Merdock, of course, attended the Continental Congress and whose name is in invisible wizarding ink on the Declaration of Independence (a copy of which the British Ministry of Magic was none-too-pleased to receive) indicating the Colonial Wizards as supporting their muggle counterparts in the struggle for independence. Merdock wanted her knowledge of wizard orienteering, arithmancy and astronomy to be shared with future generations, and used the immense wealth amassed from her travels to help turn Gretchen’s orphanage into the first American School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was also very fascinated with divination and world mythologies. She believed that children learn best when encouraged to explore their own paths through travel and adventure.

Sebastien Snowbeak: Snowbeak became an animagus outlaw in Europe, preferring to live a solitary life hunting, writing philosophy and poetry and communing with nature. He believed in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. He eventually sought passage to the New World and influenced a muggle by the name of Thomas Paine before connecting with his old friends, Grizzleheart and Lammasador from Hogwarts. In the New World, Snowbeak was a successful fur trader and businessman and an avid writer.

His Favorite place to sit and read / write was the Common Foyer at Eaglesclaw. Snowbeak’s work eventually became very influential in the establishment of the New American U.S. Department of Magic in Washington, DC. In particular, his belief that society and its institutions ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual helped establish looser laws around American Animagi and helping his friends establish Eaglesclaw.

Snowbeak had faith that children are at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent. He believed that it is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed. He was particularly skilled at Quidditch, charms and transfiguration.

Further History:

Eaglesclaw does not participate much in issues of other problems, though they are close to Hogwarts in alliance and there are a rumours some sort of tournament between the schools may soon take place. Famously and giving the school a bad reputation for a decade or so, a wizard by the name of John Wilkes Booth attended the school from 1849 to 1855, being expelled in his sixth year as he seemed to go insane with rage and attempted to stab a co-student in a debate on the views of slavery.

Booth was for the south and disliked those who supported the North so much that he went on to assassinate president Abraham Lincoln in 1865 after being released from his ward in a wizarding hospital years before before. Booth was left to be dealt with by muggles after a team of Aurors found him and broke his wand as a punishment for his terrible deeds before informing the muggle authorities. Boothe ended up being shot by a union soldier.

On a lighter note, many notable witches and wizards of the research field attended Eaglesclaw and new celebrities come forth all the time. It is an esteemed school and one of the leading wizarding education institutions of the world.

While Eaglesclaw did not participate in the struggles against Lord Voldemort, they helped the Canadians in the 1950s in the war against a team of purist Inuit wizards and witches that attempted to purge the north of muggle-borns. They have also had their own struggles within the school.

Education:

As mentioned previously, there are four houses for students to be sorted into upon arrival. Like Hogwarts, a hat is used for the sorting, though it is said to be made of deep purple silk rather than old leather. Details of the four houses are below:

House Grizzleheart:

Qualities: Strong, loyal, caring, fierce

Founder: Gretchen Grizzleheart

Colours: Green and Silver

Emblem: Roaring Bear with paws outstretched facing forwards on mint green shield (below)

Element: Earth

House Lammasador:

Qualities: Noble, Valiant, Intelligent, Resilient

Founder: Leopold Lammasador

Colours: Red and Gold

Emblem: Winged Lion facing left side-on on red and yellow patterned quarter shield 

Element: Fire

House Merdock:

Qualities: Adventurous, Brave, Enthusiastic, Optimistic

Founder: Madora Merdock

Colours: Blue and Bronze

Emblem: Merwoman surveying globe upon blue and lilac patterned shield.

Element: Water

House Snowbeak:

Qualities: Wise, Patient, Clever, Resourceful

Founder: Sebastien Snowbeak

Colours: Grey and white

Emblem: Snowy owl landing on title on a grey, white, and black patterned quarter shield.

Element: Air

Students at the Eaglesclaw Academy study core classes till third year then choose electives as done at Hogwarts. They take O.W.L.s in their fifth year and N.E.W.T.s in their seventh.

Setting:

Eaglesclaw Academy is located somewhere in the mountains of the  county New Berkshire. The castle is apparently hidden in a large valley in the eastern part of the mountain range and the surrounding countryside is said to be breathtakingly simple but classic area, with rolling green hillsides and flower pastures.

The building itself is a vast castle like Hogwarts, with outdoor Quidditch pitches, care of magical creatures compounds and greenhouses. There are also four notable gardens among many which are arranged in a circle, each quarter being a different garden for each season.

The castle itself holds a tower for each house, each tower entrance guarded by a password only house members know (or should know). Outside the entrance to each tower are two statues that will turn you away if you fail to give the right password five times. Depending on the house, these statues will be of the emblem; i.e. if it was the entrance to House Merdock, the statues would be Mermaids.

These towers are decorated lavishly in the house colours within and have large dormitories in which students sleep. The common rooms all have fires that, when lighted, immediately turn the flames the house colour, i.e. for Grizzleheart the flames would be green when the fire was lit. Paintings in the houses tend to be of people related to the house, and in every common room above the mantelpiece there hangs a picture of that houses founder in pride of place. The pictures do not talk but observe quietly and report to the Headmistress if anything is awry.

There are also many mysterious parts of the castle, as secret passages and rooms can be found everywhere by doing something accidental. Notably there is the room of Diana Montgomery, a Merdock student who thought she was going mad from receiving visions and hearings voices in her head. At the age of twelve Montgomery predicted the assassination of President John.F.Kennedy but was so terrified that her visions were starting to become real, she locked herself in a room behind one of the Merdock statues (accessible by pulling the right mermaid’s left fin) to try and find peace. Having not started Divination and a little empty-headed for common sense, Montgomery did not realize she was simply experiencing Seer visions. Unfortunately the room is also called ‘The room of thought’, and until the occupier answers an extremely difficult riddle, he or she cannot exit the room. As you may guess, Diana Montgomery, in her panic, did not manage to answer the riddle and after trying to open the stone door with sheer force, she fell and cracked her skull on the stone floor.

A nice story…Montgomery still haunts the room as a ghostly figure only ever trying to warn people of President Kennedy’s upcoming assassination.

On a lighter note, there are four ghostly protectors for each house. For house Grizzleheart the ghost is a nobleman and wizard who lived in the castle beforehand, Lord Wilar Mace, and fell in love with Gretchen Grizzleheart. She turned him down and he attempted, in rage, to murder her. Luckily his attempt failed and he was sent packing, but when he returned to the school the next time to just ‘see’ Grizzleheart, he was bitten by a poisonous snake from the Care of Magical Creatures compound whilst Grizzleheart was teaching. Grizzleheart, despite the man having tried to murder her, tried to nurse him back to health. However, Mace had already been weak and he died under her care. He returned, however, after death to make amends with Grizzleheart and appointed himself ghostly protector of the house.

For house Lammasador, a brave woman by the name of Elaine Frost protects the students there with more than ghostly presence. Although she was training to be a healer during the outbreak of the second world war, Frost left her magical ties to help the English and American muggles as close as she could get to the battlefield, nursing at hospitals day and night. She died in 1943 when a bomb hit the hospital where she worked in London, but appeared at Eaglesclaw as a ghost a little time after, still dressed in her neat nurses uniform. Frost continues to heal this day, listening to student’s problems, giving advice on treatments and even helping out in the infirmary.

For house Merdock, a would-be adventurer named Izaak Merdock haunts. He was the illegitimate son of Caleb Merdock, and was grandson to Madora Merdock. Despite Madora being horrified that her son had fathered a bastard (in that era it was a crime), she fell in love with the child and allowed him to attend the school. However, the boy, though quick and clever, was weak and sickly and caught Pneumonia in the winter holidays whilst in his father’s care.  Izaak Merdock died before Madora could reach him, but came back as a ghost for her sake and still protects her house this day. He appears as a scrawny, gangly boy in a loose nightshirt and trousers, clutching a quill and parchment. He cannot abide the infirmary due to his end with illness, and always steers clear of the place. However, eh will help any Merdock student with their homework and loves to read over people’s shoulders.

And lastly, for Snowbeak, is the famous Governess Honoria Pinfold, a witch who turned away from her magical roots due to lack of money and attempted to work as an English governess. However, she soon found that her magic had followed her and began to get very irritated as things started happening in front of her employers. It turned out her previous classmates had jinxed many of her belongings, and in rage one day, Pinfold tried to throw her trunk down the well. Unfortunately she fell herself, and giving up, she returned to her magical roots as a ghost and now protects her home house. She appears as a figure in wet but sensible clothes and shoes and is always on the look out for pranks that are to be played.

There is also the school ghost, Abigail, a girl of about fifteen of sixteen. She appears as a figure with long tendrils of silvery hair, big eyes, and a sad smile, swathed in a long gown of white, but there is a large reddish stain on the front of the dress. Her fingers are always moving, pleating her skirt into tiny folds, playing with her hair, and tapping upon the wooden surface of the stool.

Legend had it that Abigail had died fighting off a terrible beast from the school. She had returned as a spirit, continued her education, and become the protector of Eaglesclaw. Apparently some of the students have adopted her as a sort of school mascot. Abigail is always included in school festivities, and she had a special place at the high table.

The grounds if Eaglesclaw are extensive and hold a Quidditch pitch, stables, Care of Magical Creature’s compound, gamekeeper’s cottage, small reservoir and Herbology greenhouses. There are also small walk you can take through the orchards and around the reservoir as well as monthly trips to the nearby Wizarding village of Maron.

*Information credit to a group of Role Players in New Berkshire